It was difficult to tell whether or not Stefanos Tsitsipas was at the top of his game during his one-sided loss to Carlos Alcaraz in the first quarter-final night session at Roland-Garros, such was the level of his opponent that it would have negated even the most efficient of performances.

However, having lost the first two sets winning just three games, it was apparent that the peak free-flowing Tsitsipas we all expected to show up against the finest player in the world may have been struggling with some physical issues.

You know, sleep is a very vital important thing, and recovery is “the” most important thing

Stefanos Tsitsipas

Irregular sleep patterns an issue for Tsitsipas at Roland-Garros

While there were no injury concerns for the world No. 5, he did reveal in his post-match press conference that he is far below peak condition due to a disrupted sleep schedule.

“Schedule has been a little bit difficult the last few days. I had some late-night sessions. Not super late, but late enough for me to kind of have my sleep schedule ruined, in a way.”

Tsitsipas also disclosed that he had been making use of melatonin pills and napping prior to matches in order to try and re-balance his sleeping schedule, but that it had not worked for him in his match against Alcaraz.

“One thing that I’m going to try to avoid in the future is have melatonin pills and naps before matches because it clearly doesn’t seem to be working.

“You know, sleep is a very vital important thing, and recovery is “the” most important thing when competing and playing big slams like this.

“So I’ve made the mistake in the past before playing Novak in Bercy one year, and I had the exact same score as I did in those first two sets. So I feel like melatonin really likes 1 and 2.”

When pressed on this and asked whether he thought that a disrupted sleep pattern had served as a significant factor in his loss to the Spaniard, Tsitsipas was quick to play down the issue and give credit to his young opponent.

“Well, look, I don’t want to take anything from Carlos. The kid plays well. He deserves to win and everything. Let’s just not talk about it. I’m really bummed about it, that it had such an effect on me, and let’s move on.”

Carlos Alcaraz simply too good on the Roland-Garros clay

Despite a late fightback in the third set, Tsitsipas went down in three brief sets to a typically superb performance from Carlos Alcaraz.

It is now his fifth defeat against the young Spaniard in as many matches, with this latest one being among the heaviest he has suffered.

The Greek will have to work hard on adapting his game to try to negate some of the quality coming at him from against the net whenever he faces the world No. 1.

For now, though, another Roland-Garros campaign comes to an end and Tsitsipas’ attention will turn to the grass season.

For Alcaraz, meanwhile, he moves on to face arguably the greatest challenge in his young career so far when he takes on Novak Djokovic for a place in this year’s final.